August aviation data: Domestic passenger traffic up 22.81% YoY

Air traffic has returned to pre-Covid levels in India. In July 2019, domestic airlines carried 1.19 crore passengers.

India's domestic air traffic in August rose 22.81 percent compared to the same month last year. Domestic airlines carried 1.24 crore passengers last month, data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on September 14 showed.

Further, air traffic increased 30.55 percent to 10.06 crore passengers in the January-August period as compared to last year's data.

Domestic air traffic in August rose by 2.5 percent when compared to July when airlines carried 1.21 crore passengers.

Air traffic has returned to pre-Covid levels in India. In July 2019, domestic airlines carried 1.19 crore passengers.

August marks the sixth straight month when domestic air traffic in India has surpassed pre-COVID levels in India.

The aviation pie

The market share of India's largest airline, IndiGo, fell 10 basis points in August, after three straight months of rise in market share after the collapse of GoFirst, which stopped all operations on May 2.

IndiGo's market share for August stood at 63.3 percent when compared to 63.4 in July. The airline carried 78.67 lakh passengers during the month.

The airline's market share had risen by 180 basis points in June, 390 basis points in May, 70 basis points in April, 90 basis points in March and 130 basis points in February.

One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.

Air India retained its position as the second-largest domestic carrier in August and garnered a market share of 9.8 percent, flying 12.12 lakh passengers during the period.

July and garnered a market share of 9.9 percent, flying 11.98 lakh passengers during the period, its market share saw a 10 basis points fall in August.

The Tata-Group airline saw its market share rise for three consecutive months in a row in May, June, and July mainly due to the grounding of Go First.

Air India had witnessed its market share fall from 9.2 percent in January to 8.6 percent in April, falling 20-30 basis points every month.

Vistara's market share in August rose 140 basis points to 9.8 percent after rising 30 basis points in July, the airline flew 12.17 lakh passengers last month.

Vistara's market share had risen to 8.4 percent in July after falling to 8.1 percent in June from 9 percent in May.

AirAsia India, which, is also part of the Tata stable, maintained its fourth spot in terms of market share. Its market share fell by 40 basis points to 7.1 percent in August, as the carrier served 8.78 lakh passengers.

AirAsia India had become the fourth largest player in terms of market share in March and has maintained the position ever since.

The new entrant Akasa Air fell behind SpiceJet in terms of market share in August after the airline struggled with pilot shortages and aircraft grounding during the month.

Akasa Air had overtaken SpiceJet in June and widened the gap between itself and SpiceJet in July.

Akasa Air carried 5.27 lakh passengers in August garnering a market share of 4.2 percent, which fell 100 basis points when compared to July.

SpiceJet saw its market share rise 20 basis points in August after months of market share decline.

On August 14, the Supreme Court issued a contempt notice to low-cost airline SpiceJet's chairman and managing director Ajay Singh on a plea filed by Credit Suisse, accusing the cash-strapped carrier of failing to comply with a court-approved settlement plan for payment of dues, adding to the Gurugram-based company's troubles.

In the last few months various lessors of SpiceJet have sought repossession of aircraft and some of the cases have been settled by the airline.

On August 9, Sun Group chairman Kalanithi Maran has filed an application in the Delhi High Court and has sought for attachment of 50 percent of SpiceJet's daily revenues towards payment of Rs. 393 crore that the low cost airline owes him.

SpiceJet has seen its market share fall 20 basis points in July, fall 100 basis points in June, 40 basis points in May, 60 basis points in April, 70 basis points in March, 20 basis points in February, and 30 basis points in January.

The airline's market share had fallen consecutively for the last 14 months in a row, data from the DGCA showed. SpiceJet had a peak market share of 10.7 percent in February 2022.

Most of GoFirst's market share of 6.4 percent carrying 8.29 lakh passengers in April has gone the way of IndiGo for the last three months, as the latter has seen its market share rise 590 basis points in the last three months.

The passenger load factor, or the occupancy rate, of SpiceJet, Vistara, IndiGo, Air India and AirAsia India stood at 90.9 percent, 91.3 percent, 83.6 percent, 84.5 percent, and 82.4 percent, respectively, in August.

Akasa Air, India's newest carrier, saw its passenger load factor rise slightly in August to 87.3 percent in August from 86.6 in July.

The airline completed one full year of operations on August 7, 2023.

As many as 288 passenger complaints were received in August, data shows. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried was around 0.23.

In August, IndiGo had the best on-time performance, for the second straight month in a row.

IndiGo recorded an on-time performance of 89 percent at four metro airports — Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai in August.

Air Asia and Vistara were the second and third followed by Akasa Air.

On-time performance of Indian carriers improved 2-5 percent in August compared to July. On-time performance of airlines in India had fallen in June and July heavy rainfall across India forced the airlines to delay flights.

On-time performance in July and June saw a 2-5 percent and 4-5 percent drop, respectively, when compared to June and May, respectively, due to heavy rainfalls across India.